The present invention relates, in general, to methods and apparatuses for scheduling when a patient must take his or her medication, and in particular to a new and useful medicine scheduler which is particularly useful for elderly patients who may become confused when they must take several different medications according to different dosages, times of day and the like.
It is conventional for a doctor to prescribe one or more medications for a patient to take one or more times during the day, and perhaps at certain times of the day. The medications are usually in the form of pills but may also be powders and liquids.
Particularly for the elderly, often more than one medication must be taken on a daily basis. Various devices have been provided to make it easier for patients, in particular, elderly patients, to organize their daily medication. One of these devices is in the form of a container having seven different compartments, each for a different day of the week. Room is provided in each compartment for one or more pills which the patient must take on that day.
Such a device does not provide any indication on when the tablets contained in a particular compartment must be taken. If multiple tablets must be taken at different times during the day, the presence of several of the same tablet in the compartment does not give the elderly patient any information other than that all of those tablets must be taken during a particular day.